I've pretty much always been of the philosophy that it's better to take the time to buy something for a person that is begging, and thus invest some of yourself in them too, than to just hand them some money and leave. I still think that investing some of yourself is important, but being as efficiency minded as I inevitably am, I realized that sometimes it is more efficient to help someone by giving them money than trying to buy something for them. In Kolkata, many merchants don't have set prices for things. As a white foreigner it is nearly impossible for me to get the same prices from these merchants that a native would.
Example A: A few weeks ago two of the women on the team bought some rice and dal (both Indian staples) for some mothers that live on the street. It came up sometime later that they had paid 50 rupees for the rice. The merchant had started with a price of 100 rupees, so they felt like they'd done an alright job of getting him to come down. One of our leaders told us that the going rate for that much rice was actually around 20 rupees. If they had just given the 50 rupees to the family, the family would have been able to buy over twice as much rice.
Example B: Monday afternoon I was buying something for several women that live on the streets. The merchant knew exactly what was going on, and knew that I had obviously already decided that I was going to buy. To walk away, I would have to tell the women "no," which he probably realized I wasn't all that likely to do. He claimed that his price was fixed, which is very unlikely for a street merchant that doesn't have prices posted. I argued with him, but he wouldn't budge. I finally decided that the price was still dirt cheap by standards for an American, and didn't want to waste any more time. I just paid him and left, feeling frustrated, but at least glad that I was able to provide some practical help. It was this experience that actually got me thinking about issues of prices for natives vs the "white tax" when trying to help out the people on the streets.
Clearly there are about a billion more factors that go into giving, but each one seems to offer new insights into how/when to give. It wasn't a simple problem to begin with, and it hasn't been getting any simpler. Still, I'm glad for the new insights and I'm sure that God has a lot more to teach me about it.
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
Sri Lanka
Our team leaves for Sri Lanka tomorrow. First we'll take a train down to Chennai. It's a long trip, and I'm not sure that it'll really be all that restful. You can certainly be praying for that. I think everyone on our team could use some good rest. From Chennai we'll catch a plane to Sri Lanka. We're doing it this way because it's way cheaper than a plane straight from Kolkata to Sri Lanka. We should arrive in Sri Lanka sometime mid-day on on Saturday.
In Sri Lanka our team will be working with Habitat For Humanity building new homes to replace those destroyed by the Tsunami. It's going to be a lot of hard construction work, and our sources say that Sri Lanka is really, really hot right now. Please pray our team to have energy for the work we are doing. I've been thinking a lot about Psalm 127 recently:
We'll be in Sri Lanka for about three weeks. After that we will fly back to India and visit several Word Made Flesh Homes in southern India. We will return to a Kolkata on May 2nd - One of the hottest months of the year.
I think our team is a little mixed on their feelings right now. I think we can all use the break from Kolkata, but several people are dreading the construction work. Kristin (leader) just hit a huge breakthrough in her work here in Kolkata, so she is disappointed that she has to put it on hold for a month. For me personally, I'm really ready for a break from Kolkata. This city has worn me down a lot, and I think the change of pace will do me some good. Hopefully we'll also be able to come back to Kolkata with fresh eyes to see things that we have become blind to.
During our time in Sri Lanka and southern India, my internet access is likely to be a lot more limited (I will have some). I'll keep posting whenever I can, but it is very unlikely that I will be able to post as often as I have been in Kolkata. Please keep sending me emails though, I love hearing from all of you and will make sure to keep reading them. Just remember that I may not be able to respond promptly (or at all).
While gone our team will be reading the following three books:
In Sri Lanka our team will be working with Habitat For Humanity building new homes to replace those destroyed by the Tsunami. It's going to be a lot of hard construction work, and our sources say that Sri Lanka is really, really hot right now. Please pray our team to have energy for the work we are doing. I've been thinking a lot about Psalm 127 recently:
Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain. In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat- for he grants sleep to those he loves. (Verses 1 & 2))That's really the truth our team needs to keep in mind while we are there. We need to be working for, and working through God.
We'll be in Sri Lanka for about three weeks. After that we will fly back to India and visit several Word Made Flesh Homes in southern India. We will return to a Kolkata on May 2nd - One of the hottest months of the year.
I think our team is a little mixed on their feelings right now. I think we can all use the break from Kolkata, but several people are dreading the construction work. Kristin (leader) just hit a huge breakthrough in her work here in Kolkata, so she is disappointed that she has to put it on hold for a month. For me personally, I'm really ready for a break from Kolkata. This city has worn me down a lot, and I think the change of pace will do me some good. Hopefully we'll also be able to come back to Kolkata with fresh eyes to see things that we have become blind to.
During our time in Sri Lanka and southern India, my internet access is likely to be a lot more limited (I will have some). I'll keep posting whenever I can, but it is very unlikely that I will be able to post as often as I have been in Kolkata. Please keep sending me emails though, I love hearing from all of you and will make sure to keep reading them. Just remember that I may not be able to respond promptly (or at all).
While gone our team will be reading the following three books:
Tuesday, March 29, 2005
Blessed and Broken
Last night I had the privilege of joining a local pastor for a meeting he runs in a Muslim neighborhood. He was an amazing guy to talk to. Apparently his goal is to work with people of all denominations, and of course with the non-Christian population around him. He doesn't like the division of the Church through denominations, so instead of choosing into non-denominationalism like so many Americans have done, he chooses to very intentionally work with all of them. He has chosen to live his life as inter-denominational. I think that is an insightful approach that many Americans (myself included) could learn a lot from.
Rather than having a single Church that he is a pastor of, he does a variety of things. First, he is involved with many of the established local Churches. I met him when he was a guest pastor on Easter Sunday (The regular pastor was with his sick daughter at a hospital in Mumbai). The rest of the time he works in a Muslim slum. He runs many informal meetings like the one I went to out of people's homes, and I'm assuming must also work to build relationships with people in the area.
I gathered that the pastor has considerable financial means available to him because his children were well educated and moved to the United States. Yet instead of living it up, he has chosen a life marked by simplicity and love of the Gospel. The home that he has lived in for over 30 years is in this slum area, and is probably smaller than some of the dorm rooms I lived in at Harvey Mudd. Oh, plus these rooms are pretty basic. They have electricity, but you have to go elsewhere for water, or to use one of the community toilets. Each toilet, by the way, is generally shared by 10-20 families. On the plus side, he says his monthly rent is only 100 rupees (about $2.25).
Anyway, I'll get on to the meeting itself. People came and came until the room was packed. There was just barely enough room for people to sit on the floor, with a few people also on the lone bed. There were two chairs in the whole room. The pastor sat in one, and the other was saved for me. I'd say there were 20-30 people in attendance. Apparently there are usually more, but some of the kids that usually come were studying for final exams (that part actually sounds familiar). The meeting was a combination of prayer, singing songs of worship, scripture, and a sermon. The worship was largely in Bengali, but there was also a bit of Hindi and English. The only instrumentation they used was a single tambourine.
In spite of the simplistic melodies and my inability to understand most of the songs, I was struck by how genuine they were in their worship. They have so little, and yet they rejoice and praise God with more joy than any rich American I have ever known. I thought of a few of the luxuries that I currently enjoy by living in a middle-class Indian neighborhood:
In the midst of their having so little, they made me a guest of honor. In addition to getting one of the only two chairs, they gave me a full meal's worth of food when everyone else only received a snack. When the pastor picked me up and dropped me off at the subway station he even paid for us to take a taxi. It was certainly a short enough distance that we could have walked, but he chose to bless me. Everyone there treated me with incredible hospitality and asked when I would come back. They were all disappointed to hear that I would be gone for the month of April. I certainly plan to go to some more of his meetings when I return in May though.
All of this is seriously challenging my thoughts about giving. They need what they have far more than I need it, yet they have such compassionate, loving hearts that all they want to do is welcome me as their guest with what little they have. When I give, I'm usually worrying about the effectiveness of the giving and how much it is really needed. I'm generally not thinking about how I can choose to bless them the most or show them the most of Christ's love.
Another thought that Todd challenged me with recently was how often have I chosen to give until it hurts. Honestly, I have to answer never. I have never trusted God enough with my resources to give until I lacked. I have only given out of my abundance. Sometimes I have sacrificed luxuries by giving, but I have never given so much that I had to worry where my next meal would come from. I need to learn that type of sacrificial giving.
I am selfish, greedy, broken, and spiritually poor. How fortunate it is that I have a patient loving savior to show me my own spiritual poverty and transform my heart!
Rather than having a single Church that he is a pastor of, he does a variety of things. First, he is involved with many of the established local Churches. I met him when he was a guest pastor on Easter Sunday (The regular pastor was with his sick daughter at a hospital in Mumbai). The rest of the time he works in a Muslim slum. He runs many informal meetings like the one I went to out of people's homes, and I'm assuming must also work to build relationships with people in the area.
I gathered that the pastor has considerable financial means available to him because his children were well educated and moved to the United States. Yet instead of living it up, he has chosen a life marked by simplicity and love of the Gospel. The home that he has lived in for over 30 years is in this slum area, and is probably smaller than some of the dorm rooms I lived in at Harvey Mudd. Oh, plus these rooms are pretty basic. They have electricity, but you have to go elsewhere for water, or to use one of the community toilets. Each toilet, by the way, is generally shared by 10-20 families. On the plus side, he says his monthly rent is only 100 rupees (about $2.25).
Anyway, I'll get on to the meeting itself. People came and came until the room was packed. There was just barely enough room for people to sit on the floor, with a few people also on the lone bed. There were two chairs in the whole room. The pastor sat in one, and the other was saved for me. I'd say there were 20-30 people in attendance. Apparently there are usually more, but some of the kids that usually come were studying for final exams (that part actually sounds familiar). The meeting was a combination of prayer, singing songs of worship, scripture, and a sermon. The worship was largely in Bengali, but there was also a bit of Hindi and English. The only instrumentation they used was a single tambourine.
In spite of the simplistic melodies and my inability to understand most of the songs, I was struck by how genuine they were in their worship. They have so little, and yet they rejoice and praise God with more joy than any rich American I have ever known. I thought of a few of the luxuries that I currently enjoy by living in a middle-class Indian neighborhood:
- A small refrigerator
- A bathroom only shared by three of us
- A private place to take our cold, non-bucket showers
- More space per person than entire families have in the slums
In the midst of their having so little, they made me a guest of honor. In addition to getting one of the only two chairs, they gave me a full meal's worth of food when everyone else only received a snack. When the pastor picked me up and dropped me off at the subway station he even paid for us to take a taxi. It was certainly a short enough distance that we could have walked, but he chose to bless me. Everyone there treated me with incredible hospitality and asked when I would come back. They were all disappointed to hear that I would be gone for the month of April. I certainly plan to go to some more of his meetings when I return in May though.
All of this is seriously challenging my thoughts about giving. They need what they have far more than I need it, yet they have such compassionate, loving hearts that all they want to do is welcome me as their guest with what little they have. When I give, I'm usually worrying about the effectiveness of the giving and how much it is really needed. I'm generally not thinking about how I can choose to bless them the most or show them the most of Christ's love.
Another thought that Todd challenged me with recently was how often have I chosen to give until it hurts. Honestly, I have to answer never. I have never trusted God enough with my resources to give until I lacked. I have only given out of my abundance. Sometimes I have sacrificed luxuries by giving, but I have never given so much that I had to worry where my next meal would come from. I need to learn that type of sacrificial giving.
I am selfish, greedy, broken, and spiritually poor. How fortunate it is that I have a patient loving savior to show me my own spiritual poverty and transform my heart!
Monday, March 28, 2005
The Chemist
A few nights ago I visited a Chemist (small drug store) in hopes of finding some sort of decongestant to help clear me up and help me to sleep. It ended up being an interesting experience.
First off, he only understood very basic English. I think my Bengali may have been about as useful to our exchange than his English. Still, that doesn't help much since I don't know how to say "decongestant" in Bengali. Perhaps "going to the doctor" will be our next lesson. Gesturing didn't seem to be working all that well either. I whipped out my phrasebook in the hopes of finding the perfect word to convey my problem. Unfortunately the best I could come up with was "closed" as a word I could apply to my nose. I'm not sure if that actually got the idea across or not, but he seemed to understand something. He grabbed some nose drops for me. I was hoping for decongestant pills, but nose drops didn't seem like an entirely unreasonable form for such a drug.
I still wasn't really sure if he really understood what I needed. The box was in multiple languages (including English), so I decided to play it safe by double-checking what the box thought it was for. It turns out that the box didn't actually say what the drug was for. It did tell me all of the active ingredients, plus how to use and store the stuff. It even told me the price, which was nice so I knew I wasn't getting ripped off. Still, it would have gone a long way towards comforting me to see something like "Clears up stuffy noses."
The good news is that it hasn't killed me or caused any adverse side affects... so far. The bad news is that it hasn't really done a whole lot of anything. It might have loosened stuff up a little, but I'm honestly not convinced that there was anything more than a placebo effect going on. I'm still pretty congested, although I think it's starting to get better. Perhaps I'll be back to 100% by the time we leave for Sri Lanka on Thursday.
First off, he only understood very basic English. I think my Bengali may have been about as useful to our exchange than his English. Still, that doesn't help much since I don't know how to say "decongestant" in Bengali. Perhaps "going to the doctor" will be our next lesson. Gesturing didn't seem to be working all that well either. I whipped out my phrasebook in the hopes of finding the perfect word to convey my problem. Unfortunately the best I could come up with was "closed" as a word I could apply to my nose. I'm not sure if that actually got the idea across or not, but he seemed to understand something. He grabbed some nose drops for me. I was hoping for decongestant pills, but nose drops didn't seem like an entirely unreasonable form for such a drug.
I still wasn't really sure if he really understood what I needed. The box was in multiple languages (including English), so I decided to play it safe by double-checking what the box thought it was for. It turns out that the box didn't actually say what the drug was for. It did tell me all of the active ingredients, plus how to use and store the stuff. It even told me the price, which was nice so I knew I wasn't getting ripped off. Still, it would have gone a long way towards comforting me to see something like "Clears up stuffy noses."
The good news is that it hasn't killed me or caused any adverse side affects... so far. The bad news is that it hasn't really done a whole lot of anything. It might have loosened stuff up a little, but I'm honestly not convinced that there was anything more than a placebo effect going on. I'm still pretty congested, although I think it's starting to get better. Perhaps I'll be back to 100% by the time we leave for Sri Lanka on Thursday.
Saturday, March 26, 2005
Sharing Everything
Part of community is sharing in each others burdens. To further this end, my body decided to share in the burden of Todd's cold. I'm super congested, and had a lot of trouble sleeping last night as a result. I'm really hoping I can find some decongestants around here. Not bringing any was definitely an oversight. Please be praying for healing and that I wouldn't pass it on to the rest of the team. It seems like such a minor annoyance, but it has really drained me of energy.
Was That Culturally Appropriate?
Yesterday during Holi, I pretty much hid inside all day until the afternoon when it had died down and I had to go to my language lesson. At one point Todd decided to go up to the roof to watch the festivities. While Todd was gone, I heard a knock at the door, and figured it was him needing to be let back in. To my surprise, it was a middle-aged Indian man. He commented that I was new and introduced himself to me. He then said something like, "Today is the Holi day" and began to reach into a bag filled with bright colored paint powder...
I shut the door in his face. Perhaps that wasn't the nicest thing to do, but I really didn't want paint getting all over me and my clothes.
On a side note, I did end up getting a little paint on my clothes today when someone threw a paint balloon at the window of a bus I was in. There are only a few specs here and there, but it's still frustrating. From what I've heard about this paint, I doubt it will come out completely, if at all.
I shut the door in his face. Perhaps that wasn't the nicest thing to do, but I really didn't want paint getting all over me and my clothes.
On a side note, I did end up getting a little paint on my clothes today when someone threw a paint balloon at the window of a bus I was in. There are only a few specs here and there, but it's still frustrating. From what I've heard about this paint, I doubt it will come out completely, if at all.
Thursday, March 24, 2005
An Encouraging Beggar Experience
I really feel like I ignore the beggars around me too much. Generally it is a combination of factors. I'm often in too much of a hurry so I don't want to take the time. This is much more of a factor for me than issues of money. I also find myself emotionally drained and just not wanting to deal with anything. Neither of these seem like particularly good reasons to ignore and avoid beggars.
Yesterday, after leaving the internet cafe I was feeling kind of low on energy, but I did have plenty of time before I needed to get back. Almost immediately after stepping outside I saw three women sitting at the side of the street. As I approached them one of them held out a hand. I stopped and greeted them. Before saying anything to them about giving or not giving, one of them invited me to sit down. In fact, not only did she invite me to sit down, she got off of the blanket she was sitting on so that I could sit on it. I sat down and started talking with them. They were all related as mother, daughter, and aunt/sister. One of them pulled out a small photo album she had with her and tried to explain to me who some of the people in it were. They asked me about myself, and generally just seemed to enjoy the interaction. After five minutes there hadn't been any mention of food or money, we were just talking.
About that time a young Indian man joined us. He said he worked nearby, and I got the impression he was pretty well off. He knew quite a bit of English, and pretty much took over the conversation. He pretty quickly started pushing me pretty hard to give them money. He told me that they were mad at me for not giving them anything, something I really don't think was true. I told him that I was already planning to help them, but he didn't seem to believe me until I would actually do something. At this point I was becoming somewhat frustrated with him because he had completely changed the dynamic of the exchange. I told the women to come and I would give them food. We went to a nearby egg roll / chow mien stand and I bought them all some food. Once I had done this the man left, but I was still feeling frustrated because of him. Rather than try to continue talking with them women, I chose to go home.
I hope I run into them again. I really enjoyed talking with them, and really just felt good about my interaction with them (Other than the parts about that man). I felt like I was actually able to relate and share with them across language, cultural, racial, and class barriers.
Yesterday, after leaving the internet cafe I was feeling kind of low on energy, but I did have plenty of time before I needed to get back. Almost immediately after stepping outside I saw three women sitting at the side of the street. As I approached them one of them held out a hand. I stopped and greeted them. Before saying anything to them about giving or not giving, one of them invited me to sit down. In fact, not only did she invite me to sit down, she got off of the blanket she was sitting on so that I could sit on it. I sat down and started talking with them. They were all related as mother, daughter, and aunt/sister. One of them pulled out a small photo album she had with her and tried to explain to me who some of the people in it were. They asked me about myself, and generally just seemed to enjoy the interaction. After five minutes there hadn't been any mention of food or money, we were just talking.
About that time a young Indian man joined us. He said he worked nearby, and I got the impression he was pretty well off. He knew quite a bit of English, and pretty much took over the conversation. He pretty quickly started pushing me pretty hard to give them money. He told me that they were mad at me for not giving them anything, something I really don't think was true. I told him that I was already planning to help them, but he didn't seem to believe me until I would actually do something. At this point I was becoming somewhat frustrated with him because he had completely changed the dynamic of the exchange. I told the women to come and I would give them food. We went to a nearby egg roll / chow mien stand and I bought them all some food. Once I had done this the man left, but I was still feeling frustrated because of him. Rather than try to continue talking with them women, I chose to go home.
I hope I run into them again. I really enjoyed talking with them, and really just felt good about my interaction with them (Other than the parts about that man). I felt like I was actually able to relate and share with them across language, cultural, racial, and class barriers.
Holi
Today starts a Hindu festival known as Holi. As part of the celebration, they take the morning tomorrow as an opportunity to "give color." To the best of my understanding, the American translation is "paint fight." All of the shops are closed, as well as public transportation. Todd and I are planning to hide in our apartment until the late afternoon when it should all be over. It isn't that I don't want to embrace the Indian culture, it's just that I don't want to ruin any of my clothes with a layer of paint. Oh, and Todd read something in the newspaper that implied that sometimes people use cheaper paints that aren't the safest to get on your skin. I want to avoid that too.
Whimsical Weather
Yesterday morning and afternoon it was sunny... up until about 4pm when it started drizzling a bit. By 5pm I started wondering if monsoon season was coming early this year. There were a few breaks in it, but the rain kept coming through a lot of the night and most of this morning. Around 1pm today it died back down to a drizzle, then stopped altogether. By 3pm the sun was out and Kolkata has started to dry up.
I'm no stranger to rain, or even minor flooding as the result of rain, but in Kolkata, standing water is just disgusting. There is so much junk and nastiness around that walking around outside feels like wading through an inch or two of sewage. I was wearing my sandals last night, and now the cushy layer on top of them feels like walking on a nasty wet sponge. I don't dare take my shoes out in this, and I don't have any boots. I think I'm going to pick up a cheap pair of sandals on my way home and designate them as my new sandles to use when wading. I'm just hoping my good sandals won't be too nasty when they dry out.
On a related note: Mom, thank you for making me bring that portable emergency poncho. It draws a lot of looks, but it is very functional.
I'm no stranger to rain, or even minor flooding as the result of rain, but in Kolkata, standing water is just disgusting. There is so much junk and nastiness around that walking around outside feels like wading through an inch or two of sewage. I was wearing my sandals last night, and now the cushy layer on top of them feels like walking on a nasty wet sponge. I don't dare take my shoes out in this, and I don't have any boots. I think I'm going to pick up a cheap pair of sandals on my way home and designate them as my new sandles to use when wading. I'm just hoping my good sandals won't be too nasty when they dry out.
On a related note: Mom, thank you for making me bring that portable emergency poncho. It draws a lot of looks, but it is very functional.
LAUP Website
Aileen put together a website about our time at LAUP this summer. I haven't had the chance to read it yet, and probably won't until I'm back in the states. I'm sure it's great through. Go check it out if you have the time. It can be found here.
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